Delta Rae Used ‘Personal Hardship’ to Inspire ‘No Peace in Quiet’

Every dark cloud still has a silver lining. For Delta Rae’s Eric Hölljes, his light at the end of a dark breakup tunnel was finding light in writing the song, “No Peace in Quiet.”

After facing heartbreak deeper than he could have ever imagined, the singer wanted to turn his sorrows into something more meaningful than just a sulking state. Analyzing the hardest emotions of longing and desperation, he realized that the silence pounded on louder than any sort of fight could be. Eric let the song speak for itself the minute his words flowed out into a lyrical form, creating a therapeutic release by way of music.

“It came out of the blue. I mean, it really just an emotional, catharsis. I was just going through a personal hardship and one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was walk away from a relationship that I really cared about thinking that maybe my destiny was elsewhere. I don’t know if that was the right decision. I still don’t. I think that people in our phase of life are having to make real decisions that are…that have real consequences, and you kind of make bets all along the way on ‘Is this career gonna be my path? Is this person gonna be my person? Is this city gonna be where I stake my claim?’ I overthink everything, so I was dealing with that and I had these voices in my head that were driving me crazy,” Eric explained to Sounds Like Nashville.

After showing it to the rest of Delta Rae and letting them comfort Eric in his time of need, they all realized they’ve dealt with similar scenarios where they need distractions from reality to actually move past a difficult situation. Noticing how “No Peace in Quiet” turned a horrific moment into a relatable lyric made the band realize how important it was to make this their next single.

“Oh, just I think that that line also…the trick of that line. You know, instead of ‘peace in quiet,’ just something people pursue and talk about as refuge, to flip it and acknowledge that for a lot of us and a lot of people who are in a tough spot the quiet speaks to the loneliness. The quiet speaks to the lack of that other person and the lack of somebody to talk to about it. I fill up my house with music all the time, whether I’m happy or sad. I like having the accompaniment to my feeling, and so I think writing a song like ‘No Peace in Quiet,’…just to know that you put something out in the world that people could have a good cry to, feels good,” Brittany Hölljes said.

As Delta Rae put it, countless fans have approached them after hearing the single, whether it be about a breakup like Eric’s or the loss of a loved one. At the end of it all though, Eric and the other members of Delta Rae hope that even if there is “No Peace in Quiet,” there is peace in the power of songs.

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